Sisters plan brownie bakery at Elks Building Downtown

By yearend, sisters Helga Langthon and Pilar Langton hope to open a brownie bakery in the Elks Building Downtown at Hemming Park.

Mocha Misk’i will bake traditional brownies as well as those made in the shapes of alphabet letters and corporate logos. Think “thank you” or “welcome” spelled out in brownies.

In addition, Pilar Langton will bake and sell her PilArt specialty cakes and cookies there. She has been operating that business from home for almost six years.

Pilar Langton runs a business related to a brownie bakery. Helga Langthon does not.

For almost eight years, she has owned and operated SoHo Network Solutions, which sells crime-scene investigation products.

“That’s very different from a brownie shop,” she noted.

The name comes from their native Colombia. Mocha comes from their native coffee mixed with chocolate, while Misk’i means “sweet” in the native tongue of the Ingas, an indigenous community in the southwestern part of Colombia.

Also, the logo includes colors of the rainbow, which the sisters said are celebrated by the Inga people to thank Mother Earth for her gifts.

They said their parents taught them and their four other sisters the value of family “and how to put our hearts and creative minds into everything we do.”

The sisters’ market is Downtown patrons with a sweet tooth as well as companies, organizations and individuals who want to give brownies as gifts.

Langthon said Mocha Misk’i will open at 10 a.m. Monday-Saturday and close at 6 p.m. Monday-Friday and at 3 p.m. Saturday. There will be three employees.

The sisters initially started looking in the Mandarin and San Jose areas, but the fact their concept is new took them Downtown.

“The only place you can attract people from all over Jacksonville is Downtown,” Langthon said.

Brownies are a different option, she said.

Consumers already can find cookies, fruit and flower arrangements, so they decided to produce brownies.

They also might sell coffee from local brewers.

Langthon said they hope it is first of many Mocha Misk’i bakeries.

They would like to position their brand locally, continue to grow throughout Florida and then start to sell franchises within five years.

Contractor Andesco Inc. will build-out 841 square feet of space for the kitchen, office and take-out sales area at a cost of $14,000. There will not be seating.

Langthon said once the plans and permit are approved, it should take about a week and a half to complete the build-out.

Frito-Lay plans $2M expansion

Frito-Lay’s proposed expansion of its Southside warehouse is at least a $2 million project.

CHA Tech Services LLC is the contractor for the warehouse addition at 6701 Phillips Industrial Blvd. The existing almost 34,000-square-foot center, built in 1996, will add almost 20,000 square feet and 15 new dock positions.